Compton Family

Mary Martha Whiting was born in 1854 in Tasmania and came to New Zealand with her family at a young age. She was the third child of thirteen siblings. Her father Edward Whiting became a well-known contractor in Wellington. In 1874, Mary married Andrew John Compton of Boulcott Street sawmills. The couple had three children: Andrew, Jane (Jeannie) and Amy.

Mary was not in good health for a number of years but she was able to attend the wedding of her daughter Amy on 2^nd February 1903. Amy and her husband left shortly afterward for Europe on their honeymoon. Mary’s illness developed more serious symptoms and she died at her home in Boulcott Street on 22^nd March 1903. Mary was buried at Karori Cemetery and her headstone reads ‘Little Mum’.

Andrew John Compton was born in Chipping Norton, England in 1850. He was the eldest of fourteen children. The Compton family emigrated to New Zealand in the mid 1850s. Andrew’s father John had trained as a carpenter but in Wellington he became a timber merchant and ran Compton’s Timber yard. The yard was located on Customhouse Quay and had its own wharf for hauling up logs. Andrew took over the business from his father and only sold it ten years before his death.

Andrew died on 14th September 1931 at his home in Church Street. He was eighty years old. He was survived by his second wife Mary Alice (born Smith) and his three children. He was buried with Mary at Karori Cemetery.

The third and final interment in this plot was the ashes of their eldest daughter Jeannie. On 30^th September 1903, she married Weymouth Blakely. Their son Jack was born in 1906. Jeannie sought a divorce from Weymouth in 1912 on the grounds of desertion as she had not seen him since 1906. Jeannie died in 1955.

Plot: *Ch Eng/R/21

By Julia Kennedy